How Bernie Sanders snatched the biggest upset of the campaign over Hillary Clinton

Despite public polls that showed him losing by more than 20
points to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie
Sanders pulled off a narrow, crucial upset victory in Michigan's
primary on Tuesday.

Exit polls from the state gave a peek behind the motivations of
voters who helped deliver Sanders the stunning victory.

But self-identified independents — who made up 28% of poll
respondents — overwhelmingly sided with Sanders. Seventy-one
percent broke for Sanders, while only 28% broke for Clinton.

Sanders also prevailed among liberal voters, who made up the
majority of the exit-poll respondents. Fifty-four percent of
self-identified liberals sided with Sanders, while the smaller
group of self-identified moderate Democratic primary voters cast
their ballots for Clinton.

Clinton maintained her high level of support among black voters
in Mississippi, where she prevailed over Sanders on Tuesday night
in a dominating victory. Importantly, Sanders was able to close
that gap a bit in Michigan, picking up 30% of the black vote to
Clinton's 65%. The former secretary of state lost by almost 30%
among white men, who made up a significant chunk of the
electorate.

Sanders' economic-policy platform also appeared to resonate with
Michigan Democratic voters.

Of the issues raised by exit pollsters, income inequality was the
second-most important issue dictating how voters chose to cast
their ballots. Of the 27% of voters who said income inequality
was their No. 1 concern, Sanders beat Clinton by more than 20
points.

Clinton's campaign was quick to caveat the results, pointing
out that Clinton's blowout win in Mississippi and narrow loss
in Michigan meant she would actually build on her already sizable
delegate lead Tuesday night.

But Sanders' win demonstrated that Clinton still has a tough
fight to the nomination, as delegate-heavy states like Ohio and
Wisconsin — which resemble Michigan demographically — provide
openings for Sanders to potentially eat at Clinton's delegate
lead.